Potential Clinton Veeps put into 'food groups'

Balloons fall as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is joined by Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., for a celebration during the final day of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday.(Photo: Carolyn Kaster/AP)

“The Democratic Party views itself as a ‘big tent’ that appeals to voters across gender, age, sexual orientation and race,” said Franita Tolson, professor of voting rights at the FSU College of Law. “Grouping some of the potential VP candidates according to race and gender was likely an attempt by the campaign to figure out which candidate might appeal to at least some of these constituencies.”

Evan Power, chairman of the Leon County Republican Party, said the racial and gender breakdowns are “what is sad about how the Democratic Party treats people.”

“In all things including delegate selection, it’s all about groups instead of finding the most qualified people regardless of race, gender or religion,” he said. “The top Republicans for president and the delegation to the convention contained people of all backgrounds because they got into those roles by their accomplishments.”

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta speaks to members of the media outside Hillary Clinton's home in Washington, Oct. 5, 2016.(Photo: Andrew Harnik, AP)

But City Commissioner Curtis Richardson said the groupings show the Democratic Party wants to be diverse and inclusive.

“I don’t think that you would have seen any African Americans on a Trump short list or Hispanic or probably even female,” he said. “The fact that she was willing to consider that broad base of individuals shows how much she values diversity.”

Here are the vice presidential contenders, listed in groups as they appear in the email:

First group

Xavier Becerra, U.S. House member, California

Julian Castro, secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles

Tom Perez, secretary of the Department of Labor

Ken Salazar, former secretary of the Department of the Interior

Second group

Tammy Baldwin, U.S. senator, Wisconsin

Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. senator, New York

Amy Klobuchar, U.S. senator, Minnesota

Claire McKaskill, U.S. senator, Missouri

Jeanne Shaheen, U.S. senator, New Hampshire

Debbie Stabenow, U.S. senator, Michigan

Elizabeth Warren, U.S. senator, Massachusetts

Third group

Michael Bennet, U.S. senator, Colorado

Sherrod Brown, U.S. senator, Ohio

Martin Heinrich, U.S. senator, New Mexico

Tim Kaine, U.S. senator, Virginia

Terry McAuliffe, governor of Virginia

Chris Murphy, U.S. senator, Connecticut

Tom Vilsack, secretary of the Department of Agriculture

Fourth group

Steve Benjamin, mayor of Columbia, South Carolina

Cory Booker, U.S. senator, New Jersey

Andrew Gillum, mayor of Tallahassee

Eric Holder, former U.S. attorney general

Deval Patrick, former Massachusetts governor

Kasim Reed, mayor of Atlanta

Anthony Foxx, secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation

Fifth group

John Allen, retired Marine Corps general

Bill McCraven, former commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command

Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Sixth group

Mary Barra, chairman and CEO of General Motors

Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City and CEO of the Bloomberg company

Ursula Burns, chairman and CEO of Xerox

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft

Melinda Gates, philanthropist

Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola

Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation

Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks

Seventh group

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (listed alone)

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.